Author's note:

Sorry for the late update, most of this was written sunday but I didn't like it and had to add a good ending and do some edits, so I kinda left it be. However, the guest reviewer pooooost did remind me about my schedule, so thank you! Seriously. The fact that you care enough to tell me to continue writing is super motivating! As always, I want to thank all those who have ever left a comment, favourite or follow on this story. You are the driving force behind this, without you I would have given up ages ago. I am currently also in the editing process with some amazing people, 2017tnt and Milton'sKnife, who are helping me a lot! We have to a very large extend reworked chapter 1 and 2 (like not only language, we added whole scenes and stuff), and this new version is getting so much better than the original... I will keep you updated on that process though and tell you when I have updated those chapters here on the website as well. Sorry for the long author's note, but I hope this chapter will make up for it, a bunch of stuff will be happening, so buckle up XD.

Disclaimer: I am way to young to be Riordan or Rowling, so although I wish I did, I do not own Percy Jackson or Harry Potter.

DISCLAIMER 2: semi-self-harm; not bc angst or depression stuff, but cuz Ghosts like blood, and thus blood is used to raise them.

Annabeth POV:

The corridors were deserted. No teacher or student was to be seen. Not even Peeves, who usually haunted the castle, crossed her paths as she made her way through the halls, trying to remember where Professor McGonagall had led them. Annabeth was wearing her invisibility cap, so it wouldn't have mattered either way. She found the gargoyles quickly, yet she lacked the password to enter.

Sitting down and leaning against the icy walls of the castle, Annabeth prepared for a long wait. She hoped the wizard would use the door to enter his office, he might of course have some magic up his sleeve, apparating in (although she was pretty confident one couldn't apparate in Hogwarts). There was also the possibility that he had already entered a while back, and wouldn't use the door again. Nico might have shadow traveled her in, but he had only been released from the hospital wing: Annabeth didn't want to but any extra pressure on her cousin.

Knowing she would likely have to wait for quite some time, her thoughts returned to the last few days. Nico's supposed death was weird. There was no way he should have been alive if anything Malcolm had told them was the truth, and her brother wasn't really a liar. Unless- he had thought to have seen it, when in fact… crazy theories formed within her mind, trying to answer as many questions as possible with a single paradigm. Who were those Eternals? They hadn't been in greek mythology, that was for sure. There had been no mention of them within the library; only the ghosts knew. And those that survived the attack on Camp Halfblood. Why were they so powerful? Annabeth knew they needed answers, and that fast.

Camp Jupiter could be attacked at any moment, and although the Argo III was carrying the survivors, hunters and some allies to the Romans, she wasn't sure they would be able to defeat them without more understanding about those creatures. Nico's sword had been the only weapon that could harm them- why?! Her thoughts ran in circles. She knew the answer was somewhere, somewhere close by.

Then Dumbledore came. His steps where quiet, his cloak whispering while he walked. The long white beard sparkled in the dim light. His eyes, ever vigilant, where half-hidden behind those crescent glasses. Annabeth was tempted to pull off her cap then and there and start talking, yet she knew the corridor was the wrong place. She had to wait until they were both inside.

The Gargoyles seemed to recognise Dumbledore, for they opened without a password upon seeing him. The daughter of Athena tiptoed into the staircase behind him. There, she realised that the Headmaster was humming. Annabeth smiled at that.

They reached the door, and Dumbledore opened it: she jumped, just in time, to land inside before he closed it behind him. The room was as cozy as always, the massive desk taking up little space due to the size of the office itself. Magical tools were spread across smaller desks, and the dead Annabeth was about to remove her cap, when Dumbledore turned around.

"Oh, I see you have been waiting." He smiled, yet not at Annabeth.

A figure had stept out of the shadows in one of the office's corners.

"Take a seat." Dumbledore motioned to the chair in front of his desk, and once the figure had accepted the invitation, sat down himself.

Annabeth used the chance to get a good look at the man. He had brown hair, a little shaggy, and wore a violet robe. Two golden rings gleamed on his fingers. His eyes were green, but not the warm, laughing green Percy's had, rather cold and calculating. She hoped she could talk to the headmaster once the figure had gone, but from the way they had sat down, it seemed like quite a while would pass before that. Of course she couldn't tell Dumbledore about the existence of demigods in front of another wizard, so she sat on the floor, ready to watch. Maybe she would find out something useful at least. Annabeth didn't know how right she was.

Dumbledore had intertwined his fingers, starring across them at his guest.

"Mr. Eternal, I am assuming you have come in regards to said-" at which he raised a white envelope, "subjects."

Annabeth almost gasped. She held her own hand over her mouth, afraid something might escape. Eternal? But why was he human? Hadn't they all described the Eternals as monsters? Rotting beasts, hunting with swords and high pitched screams? So what was this human Eternal? An imposter maybe...

"Yes. The riders have been sighted. We think- we think the prophecy is coming true." Mr. Eternal showed little emotion as he talked, but the thought of the prophecy seemed to have shaken him, for he took a deep breath and looked down at his hands.

Dumbledore stared at him for a while, before nodding. "Do you think the riders might be the Unspeakable after all?"

Now, the other man was clearly uncomfortable. "Some of us, Dumbledore, some of us."

"It was a folly! They warned you after all." The headmaster had grown dead serious.

Mr. Eternal laughed. "Dumbledore, you talk as if it had been me who had given the order. I am not my ancestors; I am not guilty."

"No, you aren't." The Professor sighed.

"Returning to the topic at hand; the subjects that have been sighted-" The visitor clearly wasn't keen on small talk, or being questioned.

"Yes, they are completely oblivious." Dumbledore assured him.

"Coming into this school was a grave mistake. They shouldn't have done it." Mr. Eternal said, and for a second time, Annabeth almost gasped. So they knew the demigods where in the school? The five were still in serious danger.

Dumbledore shook his head. "That depends on the perspective, I assume."

His guest ignored his remark. "We have decided to send my son to- to do what must be done. He will arrive in school within the next weeks; exact information is in here." He had pulled out a piece of parchment, pushing it towards the Headmaster.

The Professor took it into his long fingers, skimming over the content. "It is decided then. I assume the Eternals are still backing the Order of the Phoenix in the fight against Voldemort?"

Mr. Eternal laughed. He had already turned around and headed for the door. "Most of us still believe Voldemort to be the eighth, Dumbledore. We'll stand by your side when the time comes. That is what honor dictates."

With that, he was gone, leaving the door wide open behind him. Dumbledore smiled, yet Annabeth didn't see it, for she had taken the chance to flee from the office as well.

Nico POV:

Before Breakfast, Leo and Percy had physically dragged him to the empty classroom that was now their outpost. Calypso and Annabeth were already waiting, although the daughter of Athena looked like she had gotten even less sleep than he had. Every time the Ghost King had fallen into a slumber in the common room, he had returned to his dreams; about humans that called themselves Eternals.

Nico, you need to tell them about those dreams! Bianca, or his conscience, or whatever, literally screamed at him. Luckily, only he could hear her. He did not want to tell them, he did not want to talk about it. Even if he knew Bianca was right. Worse than his talking conscience however was Kai. Nico still felt guilty, angry, betrayed- he felt too many emotions to count. Urgh, why was love so confusing?!

But by then, Annabeth had started talking and Nico knew he had to focus. She explained her visit to Dumbledore; clearly it had not gone as planned. She had overheard his talk to a visitor, a visitor called- "Eternal."
Calypso gasped, from where she sat, namely Leo's lap. Percy's mouth stood open. Even Nico was shocked.
"So, you're saying Dumbledore is an ally of them?!" He asked with disbelief.

"Yes, and worse, I think they know we're here." Percy jumped up from the desk on which he had sat. "Then we have to go. NOW!" He was already packing up the weapons in the room.

"Percy, no." Annabeth said, having walked over and lain her hand on his shoulder. "From what I heard, we have at least a week until Mr. Eternal sends his son, to deal with us, as he called it. Until then, we have to stay."

Leo nodded. "If we can learn about their weaknesses, we can destroy them. In order to learn about them, we need to be close to them. I say we stay, and ambush this son, maybe even Dumbledore. Learn from them; that's the only way we can defeat the Eternals at Camp Jupiter."

Damn, Nico thought. A confident Leo was hot. Not as hot as Kai though… "I don't know when Leo turned into a strategist, but he's right. We have to stay."

Percy looked around at all of them, and then raised his hands. "Look, I'm trying to protect you. If you want to stay here until the trap springs, I can't stop you. But remember the last time we demigods thought we had a chance at fighting the Eternals. Our Camp was wiped out, Nico died."

Annabeth hugged him, and for once, that little piece of envy within Nico's stomach did not tug at his heart.

"This time, we'll be prepared." The daughter of Athena said. "That means training, that means research. Nico, I know you've been literally dead, so it's not fair to ask this of you already, but try and summon the ghosts of Hogwarts, see if you find them in the underworld. We need information, and the ghosts seemed the only ones willing to provide it."

Nico nodded.

You need to tell them! His sister chimed in again.

Not now Bianca! Everyone has bad dreams once in a while. And I'm still missing puzzle pieces, I don't understand it myself!

Duh. Bianca didn't seem convinced.

Breakfast was hell. Kai couldn't look at Nico, and both ignored each other, which only caused more concerned looks from the Creevey brothers, his demigod friends and Vince. Nico wanted to sleep on his plate. His eyelids were heavy, and the only coherent thoughts other than Kai were those of his bed. The first lesson, Defense against the Dark Arts, was another session of note taking, and bored Nico out of his mind. What would he have given to trade the class for another hour of sleep! During Potion, he and Kai shared a desk and a project, which was indescribably awkward. They passed their tools and ingredients without a word, and whenever one touched the other by accident- it was a small table and an even smaller cauldron after all- they jumped apart as if bit by a snake.

During lunch, Nico took his food from the Great Hall to their abandoned-classroom-now-turned-headquarters thingy. He had enough of his wizard comrades for the day. Leo and Percy were sparring, and although Percy clearly had the upper edge, it surprised the Ghost King how fast Leo was learning the techniques. Annabeth was buried in a book, Calypso in one of her drawings on the blackboard. With nothing else to do, he ate his food while watching the longsword training session. When the bell rang, signalling the end of break, he caught Annabeth by the arm.

"I'll do it this afternoon. The ghost stuff I mean. I'll try calling them back."

She nodded. "You want any backup?"

Nico shook his head. Ghosts were his speciality after all.

After the last few classes of the day, he headed into one of the stinkiest bathrooms, using the student forsaken room to shadow travel straight into the forbidden forest. He had heard the stories about the place, yet it didn't scare him. Whatever was in here, centaurs, those weird dementors Colin had mentioned, Nico knew he would be able to deal with them. He dropped his bag on the ground and got to work. The trees around him were whispering in the wind. The sun was slowly falling behind the horizon, its last rays illuminating the Ghost King.

A hole, maybe four feet long and two feet deep, stretched before Nico. It was completely dark by now. The son of Hades took a deep breath. Just the average ghost raising, nothing to worry about, he told himself, as he threw the chicken he had spared from lunch into the black abyss of the pit. He pulled off his ring, twisting it between his fingers. It turned into a sword.

"αυτό προσφέροντας, οινοπνευματώδη ποτά." Nico mumbled, slowly drawing the blade across his forearm. The pain stung as usual, yet the Ghost King didn't flinch. He had endured worse. He saw red running down his arm. The blood dripped onto the chicken and the earth around it. Nico nodded. His cut had been perfect. It was enough blood to draw out the spirits, yet not enough to be the result of a main blood vessel being hit. He was safe. With a grim satisfaction, he wrapped the arm tightly into a spare black shirt, and continued his prayers. He could feel the dark energy rising around him. His arms got goose bumps. He knew they were here. The blood ritual had worked.

"Speak." Nico commanded.

He did not get a reply.

"I am the lord of shadows; do not hide within my birth right. Speak!" The Ghost King's voice had turned into a growl. He knew that green light had started to surround him, filling his eyes with a bestial glow, yet he did not care for his aura.

Again, there was nothing, except the whistling wind, and a lone wolf howling in the distance. The trees around him showed no movement.

"SPEAK!" Nico screamed, his anger finally taking over.

The wind was still ripping at his shirt, and the moon shone brighter than ever. Yet, for a moment, he was sure that he had heard something.

A cackling laughter.

It chilled the Ghost King to the bone. Yet before he could locate it, it was gone. Nico di Angelo was alone, the only other sentient being the wolf.

The creature had forgotten its howling to watch curiously. Dark stripes covered its fur. For a few seconds, Nico and the child of Rome held eye contact. Then, the beast blinked, the round sparkling disks going dark for a moment. The wolf turned around and disappeared between the trees, its tail rustling the leaves. Nico looked up at the stars. They were bright tonight.

It was the first time Nico had failed to raise a ghost.

Well, hope you enjoyed this one. Btw, promise, Dumbledore ain't OOC, its just a complicated story XD His motivations will be revealed later. Shout out to the guest reviewer again, this one is dedicated to you!

Hope ya'll stay safe.

Fives, over and out